Citing safety concerns and prohibitive costs to pursue options at this late date, the Kaua‘i County Council approved $500,000 to expedite the replacement of the Olohena Bridge in Wailua. At a council meeting held at the historic County Building on
Citing safety concerns and prohibitive costs to pursue options at this late date, the Kaua‘i County Council approved $500,000 to expedite the replacement of the Olohena Bridge in Wailua.
At a council meeting held at the historic County Building on Thursday, some residents vigorously opposed the action, saying options, including constructing a temporary bridge next to the bridge to be replaced and creating alternate bypass routes to the bridge, should be pursued. Follow-through on such options will result in smoother, more convenient and safer traffic flow through Kawaihau District, the largest population area on Kaua‘i, some critics said.
Officials with Mayor Bryan Baptiste’s administration said they were sympathetic to the concerns of residents, but stressed creating bypass roads that would connect to Olohena Road and to Olohena Bridge, and installing a temporary bridge were too costly to the county and not timely.
The entire bridge project is estimated to cost $4.2 million, of which $3.2 million would come from the Federal Highway Administration and another $850,000 and more would come from Kaua‘i County.
During Thursday’s meeting, the council approved $500,000 to expedite the replacement of the bridge.
Baptiste had requested the funds so that the work could be completed in four to five months, as opposed to 12 months. In addition to the $500,000 that was approved, the county has already approved $350,000, totaling $850,000 in county funds for the bridge replacement job.
Council Vice-Chairman James Kunane Tokioka heads the council’s Parks and Public Works Committee, which reviewed Baptiste’s money request.
In an interview with The Garden Island, Tokioka said he is sympathetic to the concerns of the residents.
But he said he supported the passage of the $500,000 to quickly replace an age-worn bridge with a new bridge that would be safe for use by Kauaians.
In supporting the money bill, Tokioka said:
- The use of the $500,000 could result in the replacement of the Olohena Bridge in five months, or four months, through an incentive clause to encourage the contractor to finish the work sooner.
“If the work is completed in four months, the contractor would get $250,000 more,” Tokioka said. But if the contractor doesn’t finish the work in five months, he will be assessed $10,000 for each day the work is not completed after the fifth month, he said.
With the approval of the $500,000, Baptiste said the contractor’s crews will be able to work night and day on the project.
Unlimited Construction Services Inc., a Kaua‘i contractor, is scheduled to start the work on June 1, Tokioka said.
- If the $500,000 were not appropriated, the replacement of the bridge could take up to 18 months, Tokioka said. “Eighteen months of traffic diversion would make people even more mad,” he said.
- Administration officials have discussed various options, but, from his point of view, have no contingency plan to implement in the event their first plan didn’t go through, Tokioka said.
The original plan envisions the quick replacement of the Olohena Bridge and repaving and strengthening some alternate roads motorists would use while the bridge replacement work goes on.
- The county would be hard pressed to use $400,000 to $550,000 to buy and install a temporary bridge. The money could be better spent installing a new bridge, Tokioka believes. “The federal government would not have paid for a temporary bride,” Tokioka said.
- Federal Highway Administration officials visited the Olohena Bridge and saw its condition, Tokioka said.
They couldn’t declare an emergency situation because “there are alternate routes that exist and can be used by motorists,” Tokioka said.
Speaking at a council committee meeting that was held before the council meeting where the money bill was passed, Councilman Mel Rapozo said an emergency exists if top police brass are saying the response time to police calls in Kawaihau District has tripled.
- Building a bypass road through Bette Midler’s property would cost between $1.5 million to $2 million in county funds. The 1,600-acre property is located next to the bridge.
“That doesn’t include any kind of bridge,” Tokioka said, suggesting, again that any county funds should be used for a permanent bridge.
- Installing a temporary bridge at cost of $300,000 and more would not be fiscally prudent at this time when there is a need to put in a permanent bridge for the public’s safety, he believes.
- In the time it would take to plan for and install the temporary bridge, work will have already begun on the permanent bridge, Tokioka said.
- The county can’t afford to lose the $3.2 million in federal funds that would support the replacement of the bridge.
If the money becomes deauthorized, Kaua‘i County would have to compete again with other municipalities in the nation for the same funds and there is no guarantee Kaua‘i would be given the same $3.2 million, Tokioka said.
At the same time, building costs will rise due to inflation, and $3.2 million probably wouldn’t be enough to help cover the cost of replacing the Olohena Bridge in the future, Tokioka said.
Tokioka said he believes the final product will be something that will benefit the community for years to come.
“I am sorry for the (traffic) burden that will be created for people in Wailua Homesteads,” Tokioka said.
“But in the end, they will have a bridge that will be there for this generation and the next generation,” he said.
In preparation for the bridge replacement work, resurfacing work on Waipouli and Kainaola Roads, roads that would be used while the bridge replacement work is carried out, will start Monday, May 2. The work is scheduled to take a week.
The work will be done with funds that are separate from the $4.2 million that have been set aside for the bridge replacement work, and will be carried out by separate contractor, county officials said.
Waipouli Road will be worked on first, beginning at the intersection of Olohena and Waipouli Roads, officials said.
Because only a small portion of the road – 2,500 feet – is targeted for resurfacing, it is anticipated that this segment of the project will be finished in one day, officials said.
Work will begin on Kainaola Road immediately following the completion of the Waipouli segment. The entire length of Kainaola Road will be repaved, starting at the intersection of Waipouli and Kainaola Roads.
During a meeting of the Parks and Public Works committee April 28, Kaua‘i resident Bob Bartolo said building a temporary bridge would be a better and more inexpensive way to go while other options are being considered.
He said when he was a military officer, he and others successfully built a small bridge over a collapsed road in a short time. The work allowed a tank column and combat troops to cross, he said.
Bartolo said he could build a temporary, but solid, wooden bridge next to the existing bridge on Olohena Stream with $50,000 to $100,000, drawing applause from some audience members.
Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura asked Bartolo that when he built the bridge when he was in the military did he “have to file an EA (environmental assessment) or EIS (an environmental impact statement)?” Federal environmental laws today require such studies be done before a bridge can go up, Yukimura said.
“It is not so much the money (the cost of putting up a bridge), it is the time (to get the environmental studies) done,” she said.
An environmental assessment could cost $25,000, Tokioka said.
Bartolo said that if the existing Olohena Bridge met the “EA standards, why wouldn’t the temporary bridge?”
Councilman Daryl Kaneshiro said the type of bridge that would cost between $50,000 to $100,000 to build won’t stand up, in his opinion, to extreme flooding, as can happen during the rainy wet season.
Bartolo said sturdy bridges can be built with some “talented guys.”
Some residents supported a recommendation by councilman Jay Furfaro to buy a temporary bridge that could be used for the replacement of other government bridges and as part of a maintenance program for the structures.
- Lester Chang, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and lchang@pulitzer.net.
